Isabella Morrison Fogg, letter
November 11, 1862
“… stopped at Middletown, and found them very comfortable, men happy, said the ladies were very kind, went on to Kedarsville [sic - Keedysville], but what a painful contrast! Then we found several Maine men, in a church and three other buildings occupied as Hospitals, lying on the bare floor with their coats for pillows… We then went up to Smoketown Hospital, here we found 30 Maine men. This place is in most miserable condition, the men complain very much… The effluvia arising from the condition of these grounds is intolerable, quite enough to make a man in perfect health sick, and how men can recover in such a place is a mystery to me… [We] then proceeded to Harpers Ferry. Here the sick are in a fearful condition, in every old house and church and hundreds on the ground… Again, we went to Smoketown, hoping to find them in a more comfortable condition than when we were last there, but how sadly were we disappointed… You could have seen the poor fellows huddled together, with their pallets of straw on the ground, their tents connected by flyes… many without walls and no stoves… The exposure has been such that diphtheria has broken out among them, and in nearly every case proves fatal.”
Author
Name: Isabella Morrison Fogg
Unit: Maine Camp and Hospital Association Volunteer
Document Information
Type: Letter
Subject(s):
- Hospitals/Medical Care
Event Location: Middletown, Keedysville, Frederick Co., MD; Harpers Ferry, Jefferson Co., WV
Document Origin: Berlin [Brunswick], Frederick Co., MD
Notes
Isabella Morrison Fogg, of Calais, Maine, in order to be closer to her son, was employed by the Maine Soldiers' Relief Agency during the Civil War. As part of her employment she traveled to battlefields and hospitals.
Source
Isabella Morrison Fogg to John Hathaway. November 10, 1862. Obtained from http://maine.gov/sos/arc/research/civilwar2/ifogg.html. Accessed on October 5, 2011.
